Chapter 1

" L ila, I just sat 15!" The hostess's voice rang through the server station where Lila Alexander was filling up a couple of Diet Cokes and putting one lime wedge along the rim of each glass. "And may I just say, they're probably the hottest group of guys I've helped all night." The hostess fanned herself exaggeratedly and sent an envious look in Lila's direction.

"Sounds riveting, thanks," Lila replied wryly before motioning to the drinks she was holding. "Do me a favor and stick some straws in these and run them to table 11, please?" Lila smiled as she passed the drinks to the eager new hostess, whose name she was pretty sure was Kristi, and then sighed in frustration as soon as said hostess was out of sight.

Friday nights were the busiest nights at The Pub, and she had only been a server a short time. Serving was far more complicated than being a hostess or managing the salad bar, but the bump in pay was worth it. Even when the well-meaning but inexperienced hostess triple-sat Lila's section. Lila pushed a few errant strands of dark-brown hair back into her ponytail then sanitized her hands.

The interior space of the restaurant was arranged in sort of a backward lowercase "r" shape on the east side and a "c" shape on the west in a series of booths that wrapped around a salad bar (because apparently they were still a thing) with a spacious back room of tables that could be rented out for private events, or, in her boss's case, to kiss up to whatever local college sports team wanted to use it.

On a weekend, the front was divided into five sections of five booths each, and the back was divided into four sections. She was working a section in the front and was hyper-aware of her general manager/top boss, who roamed around the restaurant like an overfed cat waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting canary.

She'd worked at the restaurant for about a year, since the beginning of her freshman year of college, to help pay for what her scholarship didn't cover. But the 30-40 hour work-weeks had begun to massively conflict with her 15-hour class load at the illustrious Bradley University. To keep its students competitive, Bradley started its fall semester at the end of August so they could fit in four semesters a year. So instead of enjoying the last couple of weeks of summer like some of her friends from back home, Lila was already back at school and working her breakneck schedule.

This particular night had been especially exhausting, and she was in no mood to deal with another table of cheap college students. But she squared her shoulders and put on her server smile. She tucked away her shyness, hiding it behind a confidence she figured if she faked enough she'd actually feel. Plus, if they were indeed a table of guys, she might be able to flirt her way to a decent tip. Maybe.

"Yo, Alexander, I'll get that table if you want," Jason Carter called before she could approach. "They're all my friends, so if it's no big deal…"

Lila threw a relieved grin his way. "Go ahead and take 'em. It'll give me a 30-second break that I desperately need."

"Hey, thanks." Jason gave his signature wink before veering off to take his friends' orders.

"No prob," Lila called after him, taking the extra moment to breathe.

That crisis averted, Lila went back to grab another table's order, dropped it off, and glanced at table 15 as she walked by. It was a larger, circular booth, designed to fit at least eight people, though there were only five guys at the table. They were all large—athletes most likely—so they filled up the space. They were all handsome in their own way, she supposed, but only one of them drew her attention. His blue baseball cap was pulled low, a muscled leg slightly extended outside of the edge of the booth, but she was focused on her other tables and thus let the information wash over her without really processing it.

Later, when she went to pick up the check at a nearby table, she glanced at him again, her eyes subconsciously finding him and refusing to drift anywhere else. His met hers in the briefest of moments before she quickly averted her gaze, embarrassed to be caught looking. As she turned away, she could almost feel those deep, dark orbs flitting over the length of her body. Dismissively shaking her head and tamping down the color that had risen to her cheeks, she tucked the receipt into her server book as she headed back to the wait station.

The next hour or so was a practice in self-restraint, as Lila forced herself to concentrate on all of her other tables, only allowing the most peripheral of glances toward the guy in the blue hat. Admittedly, though, she felt like a spotlight was on her every time she walked swiftly by. Which was probably due to her own self-consciousness. She wished they'd leave as hard as she wished they'd stay. That he'd stay.

The next time she turned the corner, she noticed that the booth was empty. A busser was clearing dishes off the table. She felt a strange twinge in her gut, like she missed the mystery man, which was ludicrous because she didn't even know his name. Hell, she couldn't even gauge what color of hair was hidden underneath his hat. After their departure, the night got even busier, so Lila couldn't really dwell on it.

After closing, Lila sat in the back room rolling silverware with her best friend, Wren Wright. Jason slid in next to them and began to do the same. He slipped Lila ten bucks as a thank-you for letting him wait on his friends. She took it gratefully because it had been a rough night for tips.

"So, did ya think any of my buds were hot?" he teased with an impish grin and an elbow to her ribs.

Lila tried to hold back the flushing of her cheeks as she thought about the guy she'd noticed earlier.

Jason, of course, picked up on her embarrassment and pounced on it. "How about it, Alexander? I noticed you scoping them out."

She cleared her throat and tried to combat the redness of her cheeks, which only made it worse, much to her best friend's delight. Wren was constantly pushing her to come out of her shell, and slowly but surely, Lila was emerging. Emphasis on the slow part.

"Seriously, speak now. If you don't, I'll start singing the latest Bieber," Jason threatened with a wink. He knew Lila hated everything Bieber-adjacent.

"You wouldn't dare."

"You know I totally would."

She clicked her tongue. "Jason Carter, you never let up, do you?" She shifted uncomfortably in her seat as Wren watched the exchange with growing amusement.

"Actually, Li, I'm dying to know myself," Wren smirked, her shoulder-length auburn hair bouncing as she raised a carefully manicured brow.

Jason waggled his brows knowingly. "C'mon…out with it!"

"Well, maybe I thought one of them was cute… The one on the end with the hat."

"King?"

"Wait, you have a friend named King? Like, that's his actual name?" Wren interjected. "Is it pretentious, ironic, or both? It's gotta be both, right?"

Jason laughed. "King's actually his middle name, and, given the way he dominates on the soccer field, I'd say it's appropriate. I'm kind of shocked that neither of you have heard of the magnificent King Spencer. He's practically a legend at Bradley. At least among those of us who actually pay attention to sports."

He shifted his attention back to Lila as Wren huffed her disapproval. As a general rule, athletes weren't Wren's favorite. Lila just shrugged, because what the hell did she know about soccer or any of the other kinds of sports ball? Sure, she went to the football and basketball games because they doubled as social events, and she happened to like the occasional soft pretzel, but she didn't know any of the athletes' names. It was bad enough that most of Bradley U's population treated the jocks like they were gods among mere mortals. She didn't want to add more fuel to that particular fire.

Jason didn't let up, though. "Well, Alexander? King's the one you noticed?" he prodded.

Lila lifted a shoulder. "I mean, obviously I don't know his name. But if King was the one wearing the hat, then…"

"I'll keep that in mind."

"You wouldn't dare," Lila laughed, but she couldn't stop the way her heart sped up at his words. Because, as a general rule, guys like King didn't notice socially awkward girls like her. She definitely wasn't going to let Jason know how badly she wished that weren't the case. So instead, she smirked. "Soccer's boring anyway."

Jason clutched his chest in mock horror. "How dare you blaspheme the beautiful game!" He happened to be on the team, too. A defender, she was pretty sure. At Lila's shrug, he rubbed his hands together. "I already have plans. You aren't ready. Trust me."

"I am so going to enjoy this!" Wren replied in response to Lila's look of abject horror. "Come on, Li. You know you need to find the fun, and even though I personally have a ‘no athletes' policy in place, there's no reason why you can't dip a toe into the pool."

"Traitor," Lila mumbled as she threw a napkin at her friend amid Wren's and Jason's uproarious laughter.